Facts About Animal Hoarding - Page 2

Mudwick...thanks for that greatly informative post.  I've always known I am highly OCD, but no one would ever know it unless I told them because I have no outward compulsions that appear to be anything other than little quirks.

bump

Do you have an educational background in psychology?

That's what I'm going to school for, yes.
Pursuing a MSW.

One doesn't need a degree to see that what this foundation alleges has been proposed for DSM-V is false.
Read the DSM-V proposals.

Mudwick, I am not so sure that the distinction between Axis I and II are discrete entities. I see them a a continuum in my experience. Also, I think there is a complex interaction between neuropsychological, biological and psychological factors in all cases, just that one may predominate in those which are at the end of being personality-related. I'm not a believer of learned behaviours in terms of OCD and other anxiety disorders, but prefer the more psychodynamic understandings which account for more complexity. But I think that it inevitable that different people are drawn to different theoretical models and it doesn't matter as long as they help us to understand. Different theories often have much in common. I would love to hear more from anyone re their own experiences of hoarding. I know someone whose haording seems to be related to his loss of his mother at an early age (his thoughts).

Muldoon,

I prosecuted animal hoarder last year. Had between 200-300 dogs with all but a few being of one specific breed.   We seized and cared for approximately 225 dogs for 8 months while the case was pending. We also seized approximately 25 deceased dogs on the property with more present but unable to remove due to be frozen to the ground etc.

The end result was a 20 yr suspended sentence with a restriction on animal ownership (The hoarder is, in part, allowed 3 altered dogs throughout the 20 yr term) and required mental health treatment. 

These cases are sad from all different sorts of angles. Sad for the animals. Sad for the hoarders who truly believe that they can care better for the animals than anyone else. Not only are they sad, but they are expensive cases to deal with. Animal hoarding has a nearly 100% recidivism rate without continued mental health treatment and supervision of animal numbers.

The whole aniaml hording is very sad indeed. I don't believe that mental health involvment can do much in these cases other than monitor and support. There is no intervention in many cases like these that will prevent re-offending without continued supervision and legal prevention of owning more animals. Many of these people cannot see the problem because of their difficulties, and hard as it is to bear, it then falls to others to step in and act.

The lines between Axis I and II certainly get blurry in the case of dx's like BPD, where causation is concerned.
However, where treatment is concerned, the majority of the research shows no difference between medication and placebo in patients with BPD [unless they have comorbitity with other forms of MI, in which case, its a whole different ballgame.]

Medication, time and again, is proven essentially worthless in treating any Axis II disorder.

Virtually all Axis I disorders respond to pharmacological intervention [although often it takes multiple attempts to find the medications that deliver the highest degree of benefit].

PTSD, Acute Stress Disorder and Adjustment Disorder seem to be the sole Axis I dxs that don't follow that archetype as closely.  Acute Stress Disorder, obviously, remits on its own.  Adjustment Disorder, by definition remits within six months of the removal of the stressor.

PTSD responds equally well to therapy and medication, the efficacy of therapy seems to be predicated on how long the person has had PTSD.  Most of the studies seem to indicate that prolonged PTSD progresses from a condition psychological in nature, to biological in nature.

I expect at some point in the future [although likely not in the DSM-V] we will see some variety of Trauma-Related Disorders Spectrum, and the eventual erosion of Axis I and II altogether, since the majority of the current Axis II dx's are more and more pointing towards a trauma-based origin.

And just to be a turd, I'd wager that the patient who attributed his hoarding to the loss of his mother during childhood was diagnosed with OCPD or another PD.

Hi Babybear,

I agree to an extent in that while mental health counseling might do very little, I believe that it is necessary during the period of supervision to have that be part of the conditions of supervision.  Any little bit helps in my opinion. In my case there was a previous mental health diagnosis (not a compulsive disorder diagnosis) that could  be addressed through mental health counseling. 

One of the main prohibition in prosecuting these cases is that in most states the penalty for animal cruelty is very minimal.  In my state it is looked at from a fiscal standpoint at the legislative level.  More significant penalty in terms of years mean more potential cost to incarcerate which equals more cost to the taxpayers who in turn vote in the legislative representatives.... 

The reality is that I know of no prosecutor who wants to put these individuals in prison - what we do want is the ability for a long term sentence that limits animal ownership and enables the individual to get low-cost to free mental health counseling.  In my case, the individual had a previous criminal history (all connected to the individuals breeding of dogs) so it enabled me to ask for a term of years that was literally 10 times the maximum sentence for an felony animal cruelty case. 

Mudwick, yes increasingly I feel that I am working with trauma in my job and DSM is useless to me. Sorry to disappoint, but lad to say that my friend is open to other explanations re his hoarding, he just wonders if it is related to his mother. He is definiety not OCPD, just a wonderful human being who has some haording and OCD traits which do not debilitate or cause harm to others, and which he has an ability to be amused by and curious about. Quite healthy I think!